As per reports, two candidates running for mayor in different regions of Mexico were reported killed in separate incidents on Friday (19 April).
• Édgar Noé Ramos Ferretiz, the candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the National Action Party (PAN) alliance ‘Fuerza y Corazón por Tamaulipas’ for the mayor of El Mante, Tamaulipas, was reportedly assassinated on Friday (19 April), while touring the streets of the Azucarera neighborhood in the municipality.
• Initial investigations indicate that only one assailant was involved in the attack, which resulted in Noé Ramos sustaining a stab wound near the heart.
• Alejandro “Alito” Moreno, the national leader of the PRI, condemned the murder and called upon authorities to ensure the protection of candidates during the election period, emphasizing the rejection of violence as a means to influence elections.
• In a separate incident, Alberto Antonio García, the Morena candidate for the municipal presidency of San José Independencia, Oaxaca, was found dead after being kidnapped while traveling on the highway between Loma Bonita and Tuxtepec on Wednesday (17 April), according to the state’s Attorney General’s Office.
• His wife, Agar Cancino Gómez, the current mayor of San José Independencia, was reportedly found alive in Isla Viejo Soyaltepec, showing signs of torture.
• The kidnapping allegedly took place after a meeting with Karina Barón, head of the Executive Secretariat of the State Security System, to coordinate efforts for peace and security in the town.
